The glow of your heart
by Tomatensuppe
Summary: Short story about Tony and Steve. Of all the persons he could fallen in love with, Tony of course happens to fall for his friend and teammate Steve Rogers. Others would call this fate or bad karma because Steve was a man from the 1940 and thus definitely not gay. At least that's what Tony thinks. But when they both start to talk about Tonys Arc reactor and everything changes
1. Chapter 1

~The glow of your heart~

Pairing: Tony StarkxSteve Rogers

Genre: mostly fluff, comfort and humour, maybe a little drama. Maybe I'll add an adult extra chapter later.

Summary: Short story about Tony and Steve. Of all the persons he could fallen in love with, Tony of course happens to fall for his friend and teammate Steve Rogers. Others would call this fate or bad karma because Steve was a man from the 1940 and thus definitely not gay. At least that's what Tony thinks. But when they both start to talk about Tonys Arc reactor and everything changes (I suck at summaries -.-)

* * *

Tony couldn't quite remember at what point he had fallen for the other one. Maybe it had been sometime shortly after they had all moved into the Stark tower where he had began to see the person that Captain America was. When he had met Steve. Steve Rogers.

It had taken him some time to eventually realize it, since he wasn't one who usually falls in love. Even Natasha and maybe Bruce had noticed it before he did.

When Tony had finally noted what was actually going on inside his heart, he had immediately tried to ignore it. After all he knew that this was Steve, Captain America, a man from the 1940's for heavens sake! There was no way this guy would ever return his feelings.

So Tony had taken all his love, all these feelings toward his friend and teammate and he buried them deep down inside of him. He had told himself that this was the best for all of them. After all, even if Steve hadn't been from a time where homosexuality had equalled rape, it would have never worked out.

They were teammates, part of the Avengers, brothers in arms. (Steve had called them that once; it had earned him Clint and Tony joking about him for over a week) Feelings towards anyone were something that was too difficult to handle for any of them. This had also been the reason why he had ended his relationship with Pepper shortly after their battle with Loki. It was simply too dangerous.

And so he had continued to live his life as good as he could alongside with his friends and Steve.

Maybe it would be easier to ignore those feelings he had if it weren't for Natasha and Bruce who constantly reminded him about his feelings by trying to encourage him to make a move toward Steve.

Bruce did so by occasionally telling him to spend time with Steve to get to know him better. He never actually used words like love, but it still was obvious what he intended to say.

Natasha did it more forceful, intercepting him in the hallways or right in front of his lab. She then tries to encourage him by telling him that Steve was looking at him with the same love filled eyes that Tony had and that he should simply talk to him since Steve – like he had said before – was from a time where you didn't ask a guy out. Or she would try to threaten him into doing something by telling him that if he never makes the first move, Steve would eventually fall for someone else one day.

But no matter how hard both of them tried, Tony always ignored them and continued living with treating Steve as a friend.

Weeks passed like that until one night something happened which made Tony reconsider his capability of holding up his act. It was one of those nights where Tony stayed up till it bwas way passed midnight because one of his projects was keeping him busy.

He was actually working on the Arc reactor, something he did every now and then since he felt that it was something that was always worth improving. After all the reactor was the one thing that kept him alive and it also allowed him to be Iron man. So Tony spent many ours trying to improve the little light that glowed inside his chest.

At 3 a.m. he decided to get some rest and so he went up to grab himself a cup of coffee. As he entered the kitchen he immediately got this strange feeling, like somebody was watching him.

"You should be sleeping."

Tony almost dropped the mug he had just grabbed from the cupboard. He quickly turned around and since fate had this strange sense of humour when it came to Tonys life, there was Steve sitting at the kitchen table starring at him with slight concern in his eyes. "You always work too much."

Tony blinked a few times still half in shock before he answered. "I could say the same thing about you."

Steve chuckled. "I am not working."

"But you aren't sleeping either."

There was silence between the two for a few moments, both simply starring into the eyes of the other one. Tony considered asking Steve why he was still awake, but then he decided not to do so. Everyone had their own demons and it didn't seem like Steve wanted to talk about it.

"So… what are you working at?" Steve finally asked. "Do we have to fear being blown up tonight?", he added, smiling at Tony.

Tony returned the smile before he crossed his arms and said "Don't worry Cap, I'm not risking waking anyone up from their beauty sleep, after all you guys really need it."

Steve raised his eyebrows and kept looking at him with questioning eyes.

"As to answer your question", Tony continued "well, I am working on… I'm trying to … improve… this."

He tapped against the glowing circle in his chest. Steves immediately looked concerned.

"Why? Don't tell me it's broken! Are you allright Tony?" the blond man got up and quickly crossed the room to stand in front of Tony, his eyes fixed on the reactor.

"Woah no need to get all jumpy. Don't worry Cap, everything's fine. But since that thing is keeping me alive and thus allows me to continue driving Fury into madness, it is always worth my time."

Tony smirked. Steve relaxed but kept his eyes fixed at Tonys chest.

"Oh… I see that's good… I mean not the part with Fury, but you know…"

Steve went silent. He still looked at the glowing circle at Tonys chest.

It was silent again for a minute. Then…

"Can I touch it?"

Tony looked at Steve surprised. "What?"

"I mean… I just wanted to… Sorry… I… didn't mean to offend you… I…I was just curious…" Steve blushed furiously and moved his gaze to stare at Tonys knee now.

Tony thought that this was one of the cutest things he had ever seen before he mentally slapped himself for his thoughts. He mustered himself before smiling at Steve, who was still very interested in his knee and said "Na don't worry about it. It's alright, if you want to, you can touch it."

Steve didn't look up and neither did he move his hands. He still seemed unsure about the whole situation.

Tony sighed before gently taking the other ones hand. (which made him feel warm and happy and made Steve jump slightly out of surprise)

He placed the blonde mans fingers at the edge of the circle in his chest and held it there for a few seconds.

Steve finally lifted his gaze and looked at his own had. He began to move his fingers (Tony removed his hand, otherwise this would have been strange) circling the frame.

"It feels warm…" he whispered, his eyes never leaving the glowing circle "I did not expect that…"

He then moved his fingers to the centre where they remained. Tony didn't answer; he just starred at the hand on his chest. It was as if the whole world stopped for a moment holding its breath. This was one of the most intimate moments he had ever experienced. And it felt so damn good as if nothing else existed but the man in front of him and the hand on his heart.

"I am glad. I'm glad that this… that you have this." Steve finally said. And then he looked up and finally met Tonys eyes.

It took Tony completely by surprise and he was unable to say anything or to move. He had expected a lot of things but not _this. _The way Steve looked at him, nothing but honesty in his warm blue eyes. It was as if Steve could see right through him into the deepest place of his heart. Deep down were he had hidden all that made him vulnerable, all his fears, his feelings toward Steve….

And that was the point where Tony panicked. He feared that if he let Steve look into his eyes any longer, he would be able to see all he hid from the blonde one. It was what he feared the most. So Tony quickly lowered his gaze and backed away from Steve.

"I… I… Sorry Steve I got a lot of work to do." He didn't care that this was probably the worst lie he had ever told someone. He just wanted to leave. Now. So he quickly turned around, not even waiting for a response and hurried back into his laboratory. He could feel Steves concerned look behind him, but he didn't dare to turn around. He was afraid that if he looked back his emotions would overwhelm him and ruin everything…

* * *

So, finished the first chapter. I will post the next chapter soon^^

Hope you like it and well.. reviews would be awesome :'DDD


	2. Chapter 2

thanks for the reviews you guys wrote me , I'm glad you liked the story so far^^ so here is chapter two, enjoy!

: thanks for telling me, I haven't seen the movie yet, but I know the plot, I did not, however, know that the shape was changed. I will edit it when I have figured out how to use this website properly xD

* * *

When Tony was upset, he usually hid in his laboratory to distract himself. It used to work better when he had been living alone and when it had only been Pepper who had bothered him. Now that he was sharing his house with five other people, this turned out to be a lot more difficult.

Much to his disapproval, every two hours one of them would show up at the laboratory, knocking at the door trying all different kind of things in order to get him out.

Natasha tried by using one of her super -creepy spy psychology tricks. Tony fought them off by turning up the music on the highest volume.

Clint offered him all different kinds of things, like going to the cinema together, or playing Xbox or taking him to a strip bar. But Tony didn't feel like going to such places anymore and told Clint so.

Bruce didn't actually try to get Tony out of the lab, but he tried to get in by telling Tony that they could work at one of their projects together. But Tony knew that if he let Bruce in, he would instantly start one of his relationship adviser speeches. So he got rid of the other scientist by telling him that he was currently working on his suit and that he didn't want to be disturbed.

Thor came down once, almost banging the door out of its frame, yelling that hiding was no behaviour that was worthy of a warrior like him and that he should come out immediately if he wanted to save his honour. Tony had feared that even his super strong laboratory door would break under such pressure,. Luckily Steve saved him and his door, telling Thor that he was being to rude and that it wasn't helping.

Steves visits were the worst. The blonde man would come down to knock at his door and tell Tony that it was him. When Tony didn't answer, Steve didn't say anything either. He just stood there in front of the door, waiting for Tony to say something. It never happened and Steve always left after a few minutes of silence. It made Tony feel more guilty that anything else in his life.

While he was able to successfully avoid his friends, Tony wasn't so lucky when he tried not to think about what this incident had done to his feelings toward Steve. For the past weeks Tony had successfully lived with hiding away his feelings toward Steve, keeping up the act of being the friend/teammate that usually drove everyone crazy with his comments. And it had been fine. Not perfect, he admitted that, but he was able to come to terms with it.

He had tried to build a friendly, but distant relationship with the other on, so he wouldn't get confronted with his feelings. And now Steve had somehow managed to overcome this emotional distance with one touch and a few words.

Great.. just great.

Fortunately Tony didn't have to keep this up for too long. Four days after the incident with Steve, Dr Doom decided that this was the perfect time to let some of his Doom bots run riot in the city.

It was still early in the morning when Fury called them and told them what was happening and only twenty minutes later they all stood in heap of rubble, surrounded by about three dozen of Dooms robots.

The fight wasn't that bad, they had faced enemies much worse before. It almost seemed like Doom had only invented those things to annoy them without any serious intentions. Naturally, Tony thus took it as an opportunity to show off. He flew some really difficult and risky manoeuvres, trying to impress whoever was watching.

"Ironman, stop this nonsense at once! This is not the time for you acting like this. Return to your position immediately and follow the orders!" Steve bellowed through his communicator in his commanding voice.

Tony smirked.

"Relax Cap, those things are no match for me, so let me have my fun."

He had only finished his sentence, when out of nowhere one of the robots shot a green laser beam right into his back. And Tony immediately knew that something really bad had happened. His suit didn't look broken, but suddenly shut itself down.

At the same point, Tony felt a sting in his chest and his lungs felt like somebody was pressing the air out of them.

He felt his body starting to fall towards the ground and thought :

/Shit... seems like the reactor was shut down.../

Then everything went dark around him...

When Tony regained consciousness again, the first thing he k new was that he definitely wasn't dead. He knew, because he was pretty sure that being dead wasn't this painful. Tonys chest felt like something had exploded right in it and he had one of the worst headaches ever. (and tony had a lot of experience with headaches)

The second thing he grew aware of was the smell of his surrounding. Everything smelled so… clean… Tony hated the smell. Because it most likely meant that he was in a hospital… and Tony hated nothing more than hospitals. They made him feel trapped. For a few seconds his senses were blurry but then, he could hear voices talking around him.

"... so if you do this, I will make sure that you will have some unpleasant visitors soon. "

"Ah come on Nat, don't be such a Grinch. And.. aw come on, don't gimme that look!"

"Guys, I think you should really keep it down a little. You're gonna wake him up."

"To late for that" Tony finally mumbled. He has had enough of their talking. His head was going to explode if they kept arguing.

Tony carefully opened his eyes, but shut them immediately again because the lights were only making his headache worse. He groaned in pain as he opened them again, blinking furiously.

"Well, look who's rising from his deathbed. You sure made us worry sleeping beauty!" Clint had walked over to his bed and stared down at his face grinning, but with a concerned look in his eyes at the same time.

"Barton... listen... I feel awful, I have a splitting headache, coffee detoxification and now I wake up in a fucking hospital and the first things I have to see and hear are your ugly face and your damn loud voice. So let me tell you this, if you do not keep it down, I swear I will have Jarvis make your life in the Stark Tower a living hell. Remember he is in control of everything there."

Clint raised an eyebrow, apparently unimpressed.

"Well it seems like you are back to your old self already" Natasha said as she stepped forward to stand beside the archer. She gave Tony one of her Natasha like smiles, which was hard to see, but if you knew her...

She then turned to Clint "We should go report to Fury. He wants to know about Tonys condition."

Clint nodded and gave Tony a light squeeze on the shoulder before he left the room with Natasha. Just before the door closed, Natasha quickly turned her head once more and winked at Tony.

Tony shot a questioning look at her, but it became clear to him what she meant when he got aware of the other person that was still in the room with him.

Turning his head he saw Steve getting up from the chair he had been occupying. Steve stepped close to his bed and looked at him with concerned eyes.

"Tony..." he asked in a low voice "how do you feel?" Tony felt a familiar tickling in his stomach. Steve standing so close to him, looking at him with puppy eyes... maybe he was wrong, maybe he had died and was now in heaven... ah what was he thinking, this was bullshit. He cursed his feelings, they were surely giving him some weird ideas.

"Nah, no need to worry Cap, I'm fine, I'll be back on my feet in no time"

Steve didn't look convinced. Tony gave him a wide smile, but it didn't quite have the effect he wanted to since you could see that he still was in pain.

"So what happened back there?" Steve asked and sat down next to his bed "You were flying around, acting as annoying as always and the next second you got hit by this beam, which didn't affect anyone else, we know that, since Clint got hit with it as well, but you just shut down ? You were lucky Thor was able to catch you in time." Steve looked at him angrily, as if this was his fault.

Tony smirked. "Ah I see. So this is why I didn't end up as a mashed potato, I was already wondering. Guess I'll have to buy him some poptarts as ... wait how does he always say... a token of my gratitude? Yeah.."

He looked over to Steve, who now seemed furious.

"Tony I'm being serious! What happened? You could have died." Tony sighed. Jesus, this guy sure was overprotective.

"Well I'm not sure yet, but it seems that this beam was able to disturb the Arc reactor in a way. Not for long I think, otherwise I wouldn't be here I guess. And it also made the suit shut down of course. And you said it had no effect on the others?"

Tonys mind was racing now. What did that mean? And how the hell was that even possible?

"So this means... this, whatever it was... this was developed as a special weapon against Ironman? Against you?" Steve slowly asked.

"Oh? Yes that could be it. Now I feel really special!"

"Tony, this isn't funny! You almost died... again!" Steve sounded even more upset. Although it shouldn't, it made Tony feel happy. So Cap was worried about him?

"Ah don't worry Cap, I'm not gonna die that easily. Can't leave you alone, I mean, who would save your arse if I wasn't around anymore?" he wiggled his eyebrows toward Steve, who was starting to blush.

"Tony, you argh.. you're impossible!" he said before he stood up and stormed out of the room. But Tony was sure he had seen a small smile on Steves face just before the door had closed...

* * *

end of the chapter two, hope you liked it^^

there will be more Tony/Steve action in the next chapter, I promise.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys, here's chapter three^^ wrote it really late yesterday night, so I hope there aren't to many mistakes. And thank you so much for all your comments; they really encourage me to write on!

* * *

Chapter 3

They insisted to keep Tony in hospital for three more days, before the doctors finally gave their ok that he was well enough to be sent home to recover.

However, he still had to stay in bed for at least one more week and was not allowed to do anything that included heavy exercising. This meant that he wasn't allowed to spar, work in his laboratory or be Iron Man in general.

So all in all, this week was going to be one of the most boring ones in Tonys life.

The problem was that with five other superheroes in the house, it was almost impossible for Tony to break any of those rules. His teammates made sure that he stayed in bed like a good little boy and although they all kept his company from time to time, he was still bored.

The nights were the worst. Due the lack of activity during the day, Tony had no requirement for sleep and so he just lay in bed, trying even the most pathetic things to fall asleep. But even counting sheep didn't help and so Tony remained in bed, wide awake and bored as hell.

There was no one there to entertain him, his teammates were all fast asleep, but he wasn't able to sneak out into his lab either because he had an odd feeling that if he tried, Natasha or Clint would somehow appear out of nowhere and drag him back to bed. The two master assassins had made some indications that they had set up something that would tell them if Tony tried to get into his lab.

After the first few sleepless hours, Tony had enough. He couldn't take lying in bed a moment longer, so he carefully got up and sneaked out of his bedroom. If he was to spend a sleepless night, then he would at least do so while reading or watching TV or doing anything besides lying in bed without any use.

Tony quickly made his way to the living room; maybe he would find something to entertain himself here. He looked through their film collection and Clints video games, but none of them caught his eye. After fifteen minutes he was ready to give up, maybe he would find some way to get into his lab after all.

He was already back on his feet and heading for the door, when he suddenly heard footsteps in the hallway. He froze at the spot, carefully listening as the sound came closer. If any of his friends were to notice that he had left his bed, they would be furious and make sure that he wouldn't be able to leave it again.

"JARVIS, lights out", he mumbled and instantly darkness surrounded him. Only a few moments later, the door to the living room was pushed open. Tony held his breath as a tall figure stood in the doorframe.

…..

"…Tony? What are you doing here?"

It was Steve. Tony let go of his breath. Oh great, just great. From all the people that lived in this building, it had to be Steve. As if he hadn't been confused enough already.

"How the hell did you know that it was me?" the billionaire finally asked.

A warm chuckle came from the other man in return, it gave Tony Goosebumps.

"Tony… you're glowing"

It took Tony a few moments before he understood and looked down on his chest where the Arc reactor sat, emitting a soft bluish-white glow. Of course, how could he forget?

Steve was still laughing as Tony shot an angry look toward his chest.

"Well, looks like the times where I was able to play hide and seek in the dark are over. JARVIS, lights on."

When the ceiling lights illuminated the room again, Tony finally had a good view on the person standing in front of him.

Again, only one thought shot through his mind: Steve looked adorable. He looked absolutely adorable in his sweatpants, his wide white shirt, his hair ruffled from lying in bed, his blue eyes clouded with sleep… adorable, just adorable.

The familiar warm feeling Tony desperately tried to avoid filled his stomach once more. He couldn't help it; his body was reacting on its own. He was sure that his cheeks were flushed and his eyes held this unwelcome puppy stare.

Tony quickly shook his head, the last thing he needed now was Steve seeing those emotions shimmering in his eyes. He had the odd feeling that Steve could somehow read him like an open book. Steve may not be the smartest one there is, but when it came to people he had this strange gift of understanding them. Maybe this was why he is such a good leader.

"You shouldn't be up at this time; it's in the middle of the night. You need your rest" Steve continued as he slowly walked over to stand in front of Tony.

"Same goes for you, doesn't it Cap? I'm here because I'm bored since I haven't really done anything useful during the day. What's your excuse?"

Steve looked taken aback and quickly turned his gaze toward the floor as if he was ashamed of why he was here.

"I…. It's nothing.. . just a little nightmare…", he finally answered.

Tony nodded. Nightmares. Yeah, he sure did know about those. He has had them often enough himself.

He would dream of the time he spent as a prisoner inAfghanistan, he would see the dark, engulfed caves he had been kept in, the unbearable pain that was caused by the tentative machine in his chest, Yinsens face…

All these things came back during the night, crawled through his mind and heisted his sleep. At least in some nights.

It had gotten better in time, now the nightmares would only come back occasionally.

But Tony could imagine that Steve had a lot more to deal with.

Being awaken in a whole new time, a whole new world after fighting and almost dying in one of the most horrible wars humanity had ever seen must be a really unpleasant experience.

Tony has had lots of things he could distract himself with after his captivity in Afghanistan. After all, he still has had a place to return, a home.

But Steve, he was lost in this unfamiliar world with nobody to turn to and nowhere to be. The place he had once called home had changed so much and all his friends and family were long gone.

It was something that made Tonys heart ache, it made him wanting to protect Steve, to give him a place to stay, to be someone he could hold on to….

But no matter how desperately Tony wished to be all this for Steve, it would never happen. He was too afraid. Afraid because he was really bad when it came to comforting others. He usually acted like a total jerk when he had to be there for someone else. Maybe because he only had bad experiences with such things himself.

And also, he was afraid that if he came to close to Steve, the other one would eventually discover his hidden feelings.

So he remained distant, avoiding all those things he knew that were there, although he pretended that they weren't.

Steve helped with that, keeping all his problems to himself, not wanting to burden anyone with them.

But there were moments, moments like this one, were they were unable to not see what was going on. Where they simply could not pretend…

"Well, if that's what it is, then I know just the thing for the two of us to do."

Steve looked at Tony again, a surprised look on his face. He then opened his mouth, probably to argue with Tony, to tell him that he should go back to bed, but Tony simply cut him off.

"Listen, Cap. You can't sleep, I cannot sleep – so what's the point in trying? So instead of pretending that we could both go back to sleep, how does this sound: let's watch a movie together, after all you have a lot to catch up."

The words had emerged from Tonys mouth before he could really think about it. Shit! Not good. This was exactly what he actually tried to avoid, spending time with only Steve Rogers himself, while they both were at an emotional breaking point.

But all his doubts vanished immediately, when he saw the small smile that was now on Steve's lips.

"All right. Pick a movie. I'm really sick of not understanding all the references you make", was all the blonde man said before he propped himself on the couch in front of the T.V.

Tony blinked a few times before he quickly pulled himself together and joined Steve.

"Alright Cap. Let's see… JARVIS? How about we start our little movie night with 'pulp fiction'."

"As you wish sir.", came an immediate response and few seconds later, the T.V. screen went on as the movie started to play.

But Tony didn't really notice any of this. All he could look at was Steve's face, the confident and relaxed smile he wore…

Two minutes into the film, Steve turned his gaze at Tony once more.

"Thank you Tony. I really appreciate it." He then gave him one of the warmest smiles Tony had ever seen, before he turned his attention back on the movie.

Tony however continued to stare at Steve, eyes wide open. So there he was, sitting close to the person he loved dearly while risking that Steve could discover those feelings he had for him. And all that for a smile, for the smile Steve had just given him.. Tony slightly shock his head this was ridiculous, this was stupid…..

…..

…. Stupid, yeah, maybe, but totally worth the risk.

* * *

End of chapter three, chapter four will follow soon


	4. Chapter 4

Here's chapter 4^^

Sorry it took so long, but university had been keeping me busy lately. But all your comments really motivated me.

Hope you enjoy and reviews would be awesome^^

* * *

Spending the night like this with Steve, the two of them together in total peace, watching the movie was something Tony thought he would not be able to experience often. And so he enjoyed every minute in which they sat together, Steve occasionally asking when he did not understand certain events or references in the film while Tony kept on insisting that Jules Winnfield looked exactly like Fury, apart from the fact that he had a lot more hair (Steve fiercely denied that, though Tony was pretty sure that he only did so out of respect – that damn perfect Soldier).

Even when the film had long since merged into the credits, they would still sit together and both stare at the screen absent minded. Eventually Steve would stretch and jawn, before wishing Tony a good night, telling him to go to bed before leaving for his own room.

Tony remained seated on the sofa until he could no longer hear Steves footsteps in the hallway.

…..

Strangely, and much to Tonys' surprise this nightly encounter was not the last of its kind. There were more and more nights, where he would discover Steve wandering through the dark corridors of the Tower.

Sometimes he would find him starring out of one of the wide windows, watching the illuminated skyline of New York city absentminded.

At some night Steve would return to his rooms after countless minute or even hours.

In other nights he would head down to the gym after a while, to punch the hell out of one of his punching bags, as if it had personally insulted him.

If anyone had asked him, Tony would never admit that he knew that, especially because he DID NOT spent most of his time with watching Steve when the blond man was restless during the night and/or checking JARVIS's protocols to find out more about Steves odd behaviour.

And it certainly did not bother him!

Steve Rogers was a grown man after all and fully capable of dealing with his own problems. And the sad and nostalgic shimmer in his blue eyes, the constant sighing as he looked into the night sky did most certainly not make Tonys' heart ache because he certainly was not that much in love with the Soldier that the mans obvious sadness almost made his heart break.

No. It was so not like that. It was not and nothing, not even the small voice in the back of his head would ever make him change his mind…...

_"Sir, if I may, your heart-warming concernment for Captain Rogers is truly touching. Maybe you should think about another ways to express your feelings. After all, monitoring every step he takes outside his quarters during the night could easily be misinterpreted and end with some misunderstandings."_

"Not now JARVIS", Tony tried to shush the AI, eyes still fixed onto the screen of the monitor "and stop telling me that, it's not like that."

_"Well, if you say so, Sir."_ Tony could almost hear the sarcasm dripping from each word. When did his AI develop the ability to be sarcastic?

"JARVIS, like I said….. actually, why am I even arguing with you? Cut it out or I swear, I'll do some serious reprogramming on you!"

The following silence was more than any words could have ever expressed. Tony shot one short, angry glare at the ceiling before focusing back on the screen.

Steve had once again emerged from his room in the middle of the night and was standing at the big window in their shared living room, his sight somewhere lost in the distance. Tony was down in his lab and had been working to improve Natashas' widow bites until JARVIS had informed him of Steves anew wakefulness. Now the widow bites lay at the other side of the desk, abandoned, whilst Tony was all focused on the screen that showed Steve.

"What the hell is wrong with him", Tony mumbled to himself. Of course he had some theories of why Steve seemed to be so upset. He wasn't stupid.

Being frozen after crashing an airplane right into the ocean, only to be reawakened seventy years later, with everything changed and everybody he ever knew and cared about either dead or old... it must be so hard.

And Tony didn't even dare to imagine what things the blond must have seen in the war. He's heard enough stories from his father to get a rough image.

But still... even though they have had their problems in the beginning and it hadn't seemed like it... Tony had always considered Steve as a strong person, all body and soul. After all, how else would he be able to be Captain America?

And Tony had never really worried about Steve, he had thought that Steve was capable of handling his past – until he had realized that he was obviously not.

All those encounters during the nights, the images on the screen right in front of his eyes... They were clearly showing him a different Steve Rogers than the one he had been imagining.

They showed what everybody, even the team, sometimes seemed to forget... that Steve was still a human being, emotions and fears included.

Tony sighed after watching Steve for another five minutes.

"JARVIS? What should I do?"

_"If I may so Sir, I would recommend you go up and talk to the Captain. After all, he seems to be quite fond of you"_

Tony merely shot a sceptical look up to the ceiling. What JARVIS suggested did not really appeal to him. Not at all actually.

Having an overly emotional talk with Steve was the last thing he wanted to do.

Because, first off, he was really really bad at this ... emotional thing. Seriously, you could ask anyone, Pepper, Rhodey... Seriously, he couldn't even handle his own emotional junk, how was he suppost to care for someone else? Especially Steve. He didn't want to mess up their friendship, at least not more than he already had.

And moreover, he didn't even know if Steve wanted to talk about this. He didn't know if he wanted to talk about this with him. Probably not. Most likely not.

Tony was fairly sure that his other Teammates were far more qualified to do this.

His gaze slowly went back to the screen.

Steve was still there gazing out of the window

"JARVIS, you better have another idea, because I don't think that I'm going to..."

Before he could finish his sentence, something nudged him in the back rather rough. Something pointy.

Tony raised an eyebrow and turned.

Dummy was standing behind him. But what caught his eye was the thing Dummy was still holding in his arm.

What the robot hat just shoved into his back was nothing else than one of his old reactors. The one Pepper had once given to him as a gift.

He had used it when fighting Obadiah, but after that he had repaired the thing, glass and all. After all it had been a gift from Pepper.

Tony slowly took it from the robot and read the words that were written around the still faintly glowing centre.

_Prove that Tony Stark has a heart._

The words echoed in his head. He could only stare at the thing in his hand with wide eyes while his mind was racing.

He was still telling himself that no, he was not good enough for this, for Steve, that he had no right to even ask him about this. He kept telling himself that he would only make things worse. But then his thoughts always went back to the words written on the reactor.

_The prove Tony Stark has a heart_

_...Tony Stark has a heart_

"Damn...", he mumbled to himself. Why did this have to be so complicated?

Tony was still torn between just staying down in his lab, minding his own business and going up there to try to help Steve, which was most likely going to end in a total disaster.

He looked once more at the screen and the blond man, who still seemed to be engaged in his thoughts. It didn't really make the whole situation any easier. A part of Tony had hoped that Steve would have gone back to his room by now.

It was only then when Dummy pulled at his sleeve, drawing his attention back into reality. Tony looked back at the Robot.

"So you want me to go up there as well?"

Dummy made a motion that could be interpreted as a nod. And even though Tony still felt more than uncomfortable about, he couldn't help but smile a little.

"Well if you insist...", he said, finally giving in. He padded Dummy before setting the reactor aside and finally heading upstairs.

* * *

Hope you liked it, I actually wanted this to be longer, but I didn't want to keep you waiting either^^

btw way, the cover of the story was drawn by me and can be found here:

art/Pillow-Talk-without-frame-335553244


End file.
